Steve

Ubuntu Linux

I’ve long been a Linux user, firstly as a command line user for running an old Amateur Radio TCP/IP system which I closed down back in 2003. More recently I have been using Fedora Core 3 on an old Intel P4 box. I started using this in the summer of 2005 whilst off work. Mainly as something to keep my mind occupied.

I upgraded to FC5 and ran that on the box for about 6 months or so. Earlier this year I sent off for a Ubuntu CD having heard good things about it. Wow how much has this changed the overall experience.

A lot easier and quicker to install than anything I have run before. Pop in the CD, boot the machine from CD and within a couple of screens I had a live Linux system. From there it was a simple case of clicking on an install icon and within 15 minutes I had fresh Ubuntu install.

Photography Update

I’ve recently bought a new camera bag a Lowepro Orion AW beltpack/backpack which I’ve found works very well. It’s in place of my Lowepro Minitrekker, which is a great bag, but I tended to put too many things in it and overloaded my back!!

This evening I was sorting through my things and wondered… what would it be like to go back to using film again… has any one tried? I have two very good film cameras an OM30 and an EOS30.

The OM30 is both small and light for an SLR, I bought it second hand over 20 years ago now, I don’t think I’ve put a film through it in over 5 or 6 years. The EOS30 is a lot newer of course and I used it up until I got my 20D, but likewise it’s remained unused since going digital…

So I might sent myself a challenge by putting a film through one of my old cameras and see how things turn out… have I lost the touch!

The other thing that I noticed that, with a fixed lens on the OM30 how bright the viewfinder image is!! With a lot of us using zoom lens these days with their restricted apertures, we forget what it is like to use a fixed focal length lens.

Future Gadgets

Using my iPaq in conjuction with my mobile phone, I have got used to a ‘two box’ solution to my day to day email, calendar and reminder requirements. Whilst most mobile phones can do most if not all of these
functions to get a decent size screen means that you will carrying around quite a large device that is tied in someway to a mobile phone contract.

I do prefer a small phone that pops into my shirt pocket, with bluetooth and a handsfree it does most things I want. I am currently using a Nokia 6230i.

I posed myself the question the other day what would I replace my iPaq with? One device that has interested me recently is the new Nokia N800 internet tablet. It isn’t a phone, but it has bluetooth, WiFi. So it would seem a useful device. The N800 is released at the end of March at a price of £300 approx.

Camera Bag Addiction!

Could this be a new modern day addiction, one that doesn’t involve any chemicals sold by odd characters on street corners.

If you have ever been a subscriber to any of the photographic forums, when ever the topic of what camera bag do you use for your Camera XYZ comes up, all the lurkers come out of the shadows to offer their suggestions, ‘oh I use this and I have this body, this lens, this flash gun’ it results in a full inventory of their camera gear and what bag they haul all this stuff around in.

I’ve found myself recently falling in to this addiction for LowePro bags and accessories. My list is growing, but it’s not all for camera stuff, the latest edition to my stable is a LowePro Rezo 15, for my Apple Video iPod or is it iPod Video (you have to get the names in the right order!). I used the excuse that I wanted something that would contain my iPod, protect it’s shiny surfaces from the elements and knocks.

Oh alright it was another excuse to get the latest catalogue to peruse and size up what bag or pouch would hold my iPod, after carefully measuring it and then scouring the catalogue for the pefect fit…

I will resist the temptation to list my full collection here…

New Headphones

I’ve just bought some new headphones for my iPod they are Sennheiser PX100’s, not very expensive ones, but having tested to quite a few pairs of headphones in the Apple store at Bluewater recently, these represented a good price/performance compromise. I can blank out other noise and concentrate on what I’m listening to better with these.

The bass reproduction is excellent with these as well. A ‘rich’ tone across the whole frequency range…

I bought them from Amazon, good price and free postage. Don’t get tempted with similar ones on EBay, they tend to be more expensive…

They came in a natty carry case which is going to take some working out to get them back in to again!! They fold up quite compact.